Breast Cancer Treatments: New Signals & Drugs

Breast cancer is a big deal, right up there with the second most common cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. Did you know it can be split into different types based on how aggressive it is, its genetics, and its stage? Despite lots of research, scientists still don't know exactly what causes it. But they have figured out some major risk factors like being a woman, getting older, having a family history, not having kids, not breastfeeding, high hormone levels, and personal lifestyle choices. One way doctors decide how to treat breast cancer is by checking for three things inside the cells: ER, PR, and HER2/ERBB2. If a cancer is "triple-negative, " meaning it lacks all three, the go-to treatment is chemotherapy. For other types, doctors use medicines that target these receptors. Chemotherapy drugs like doxorubicin, paclitaxel, and docetaxel are usually the first choice. But recently, scientists have been looking into monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) connected to very strong drugs to target specific cancer cells. This is called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Recent research has shown that synthetic drugs can do a great job fighting off both MCF-7 and drug-resistant breast cancer cells. These synthetic compounds can even beat cells that have become resistant to a lot of drugs over time. Scientists are trying to understand why and how this happens. Some reasons might be that the cancer cells are better at getting rid of the drugs, have stronger DNA repair, or can break down these drugs quicker. There's a lot more to learn about how these synthetic drugs work against breast cancer and drug-resistant cells. Researchers are diving into different cell signaling pathways, like JAK/STAT, Akt, and MAPK, to see how they play a role in breast cancer. They're also looking at both natural and synthetic drugs to find the best ways to treat this disease.